296 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



of neck, white, forming a white stripe below the dark eye-streak; 

 chin, throat, neck below, and breast, black, with white marks in- 

 creasing in size on the breast, all the feathers being edged or scaled 

 with black, diminishing in extent on the lower abdomen, which is 

 almost white, and forming cross-bands on the flanks and thigh- 

 coverts. 



Bill slaty-black; irides red-brown; orbitar skin dusky-green ; 

 feet dark green ; claws dusky. 



Length 12 inches ; extent 18 ; wing 5| ; tail 4 ; bill at 

 front 1/y ; extended foot 2^ ; weight 5 oz. 2 dwt. 



The female has the cap black, with small white triangular spots 

 and streaks. 



The Golden- winged Woodpecker is found throughout the greater 

 part of India and Ceylon, but is replaced in some districts of the South 

 by the next species. Adams states that it occurs in Sindh, the 

 Lower Himalayas, and Cashmere ; but with regard to the first-named 

 province, see B. dilutus, page 297. In Ceylon it inhabits the 

 northern region, being replaced in the south by another species. It 

 inhabits alike thin forest-jungle, groves, gardens, and avenues, 

 and is to be found about every large town or station. It has a 

 loud screaming call, which it frequently utters as well when 

 perched, as when flying in great undulations from tree to 

 tree. It breeds, like all other Woodpeckers, in holes in trees, 

 laying three or four white eggs. Philipps, indeed, states, though of 

 course erroneously, that its eggs are light green. 



181. Brachypternus chrysonotus, Lesson. 



Picus, apud Lesson — Brach. puncticollis, Malh. — B. micropus, 

 Blyth— Jerdon, 2nd Suppl. Cat. 212, bis. — Blyth, Cat. 252 

 in part— also of Jerdon, Cat. 212. 



The Lesson Golden-backed Woodpecker. 



Descr. — Very similar to the last, but smaller ; the frontal feathers 

 are more mixed with black in the male ; the back of the nape is 

 continued lower upon the shoulders, contrasting strongly with the 

 golden-orange of the back ; the wings are of a duller golden ; the 

 eye-streak is narrower, but darker and more strongly defined, and 



